Новости за 12.11.2021

Less than two weeks after Facebook’s startling announcement that it was changing its name and focus to Meta, three heavyweights in the 5G space are piggybacking on the shift. Also see: Facebook Rebrands as Meta in Push to Align With Metaverse While many consumers and companies are still taking a wait-and-see approach to swapping real-life activities […]

Today in B2B payments, FinTech SMBX offers bonds rather than bank loans to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Plus, Veem announces their Partner Connect program for global AP/AR-as-a-Service, and one-third of small businesses are planning to automate their accounts receivable by 2025.  Veem Debuts Partner Connect Program for Global AP/AR-as-a-Service  Business payment service provider Veem […]

The labor shortage triggered by COVID-19 has been a boon to robot sales as businesses scramble to fill jobs amid increasing consumer demands for goods and services post-pandemic. Orders for robotics January through October reached 29,000 units for a record $1.48 billion compared to last year’s $1.09 billion, topping 2017’s record for the same time […]

A March crash in Marietta, Georgia between an Amazon delivery van and a Tesla paralyzed a would-be medical student and turned the spotlight on how fault should be assigned when big companies farm out work to smaller third parties. Amazon Logistics subcontracts to outside delivery drivers and small businesses, but only under Amazon’s branding and […]

The automotive transport company Ship.Cars has formed a partnership with the logistics brokerage Montway Auto Transport.   The two companies announced the union in a news release Friday (Nov. 12), saying it will give Montway customers extra carrier capacity and new emphasis on visibility and automation following dispatch.  The announcement comes ahead of Used Car Week […]

IPOs and SPAC announcements in the banking sector this year to date have totaled 61, followed by firms that are engaged in transforming the way companies’ workflows operate (the “work”) segment, at 48.  The activity was decidedly international in scope.  Payments firms follow, with 36 listings. Paytm dominated listings activity in terms of sheer size, […]

Crypto made news this week on a couple of fronts. For one, Coinbase reported earnings that were a bit of a disappointment from the Street’s perspective, with both trading volumes and active users down. Notably, Coinbase advocated for a single digital asset regulator, mentioning that it currently has to answer to 53 of them. “I’m […]

Booking Holdings Inc. on Friday (Nov. 12) agreed to acquire B2B hotel room distributor Getaroom from Court Square Capital Partners for about $1.2 billion and will roll it into the Priceline brand, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval, according to an Associated Press report.  Getaroom will become part of Priceline’s strategic partnerships team, […]

When online delivery orders made up only a small fraction of all sales, the turnkey solution was the best option for most restaurants. Third-party aggregators gave them access to digital order-taking and payment tools and drivers to fulfill delivery orders, as well as a marketplace for new customer acquisition. Now, however, as the online ordering […]

FinTech startups in Africa are ballooning beyond their borders to access a wave of new investments expected to arrive with the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).  Trading under the AfCFTA began earlier this year, with the aim of establishing the largest single market for goods and services in the world.  As […]

The blockchain space continues to boom, and recent data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shows that the market capitalization of stablecoins – digital currencies pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar or Euro – has quadrupled to over $120 billion in 2021, with stablecoin trading volumes overtaking those of all other crypto […]

The connected economy of payments is enabled by sharing banking credentials with a wide array of apps and websites. While incredibly convenient, this also exposes consumers to risk. Analyzing findings from a survey of nearly 2,370 consumers who hold primary checking or savings accounts in the U.S., the new study "Sharing Bank Account Credentials With […]

Owners of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) looking to raise some money now have the opportunity to issue bonds to their everyday customers and cash in on their “beloveability factor.” The idea is that budding entrepreneurs can quickly source the funding they need to grow their business, while giving loyal patrons the chance to make […]

Record online sales posted by JD.com and Alibaba weren’t enough to buoy a sluggish Singles Day in China, the world’s biggest multi-day shopping extravaganza that typically brings in more sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. Singles Day, also known as Double 11 and originally called Bachelors' Day, was started by Alibaba in 2009 […]

Cash flow considerations are not limited to one sector or business type. Delays or errors in the process can have colossal ripple effects in all industries. Firms that lack the free capital to ensure timely payroll, vendor payments and a host of other necessities could find themselves in a world of issues. It is the […]

In the early weeks of the pandemic, restaurant enthusiasts took it for granted that we’d be truly back to normal by late 2021. What most consumers — and even many restaurateurs — had not counted on was that the very meaning of “normal” for restaurants would be permanently changed. The industry is emerging with a […]

Five years from now, buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers may look a lot more like “tech-enabled” digital banks as companies in the space evolve and expand their financial services offerings, according to Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim. “At Sezzle, our mission is to financially empower the next generation, and getting deeper into financial services makes […]

The age of open banking is being accelerated by the pandemic. Finicity Founder and CEO Steve Smith told PYMNTS in an interview that, with the increasing use of online channels to do everything from opening accounts to transacting, the specter looms of account takeovers (ATOs) — but the transparency inherent in open banking offers a […]

Banking customers’ expectations of their financial institutions (FIs) are changing as more transactions and activity go digital — at warp speed. “Staying on top of these evolving product trends ... is something the FIs will really need to cater to,” Paramita Bhattacharjee, vice president, product line leader, risk insights at Early Warning, told PYMNTS. And […]

Once thought of as just a fad, cryptocurrencies are gaining, well, currency as a conduit for mainstream commerce. BitPay CEO Stephen Pair, PacSun CEO Michael Relich and Verifone Head of Advanced Payment Methods Jeremy Belostock told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that merchants need to heed the clarion call: Tens of millions of consumers across the globe […]

It might seem as if buy now, pay later (BNPL) and cryptocurrency are being used everywhere, but there’s at least one big space where they have plenty of room to grow: loyalty programs. Offering the possibility of converting rewards into crypto or connecting to fast-growing installment payment plans can benefit consumers and merchants alike, Rodrigo […]

After more than an 18-month wait, the ending of broad pandemic-era restrictions has spawned a flurry of activity and excitement amongst hotels, airlines and essentially the entire travel and hospitality sector, all eager to jump-start the lucrative international tourist trade. Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky told Yahoo that the home sharing platform saw bookings […]

All totaled, 12% of online shoppers experienced fraud during the 2020 holiday shopping season, according to The 2021 Holiday Shopping Outlook, a PYMNTS and Kount collaboration that surveyed more than 3,600 consumers. But that headline number actually masks a worse problem beneath it, as the research revealed certain ages and income levels of consumers were […]

In today’s top Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) news, Germany’s Delivery Hero predicts a positive 2021 revenue outlook; Mode, a U.K. FinTech, joins forces with PayEscape to test a bitcoin payroll offering; the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and others sign a digital trade financing pact; London-based InsurTech Nimbla says embedding within more platforms […]

Loyalty programs and other special offerings are popular in the U.K., where 76% of all consumers receive regular rewards or discounts from at least one of the businesses with which they shop. This data was revealed in a recent PYMNTS report on ‘Making Loyalty Work For Small Businesses’, published in collaboration with the U.K.-based software […]